


Conceal, Don't Feel

by evelynIttor



Series: My H/C Bingo 2014 [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Begging, Big Brother Dean, Comment Fic, Episode: s09e10 Road Trip, Gen, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Episode: s09e10 Road Trip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-12
Updated: 2014-09-12
Packaged: 2018-02-17 01:33:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2292017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evelynIttor/pseuds/evelynIttor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on this prompt from LauHime's H/C meme: Set after 'Road Trip'. Sam suffers from migraines, has since he was a kid. Dean, being an awesome brother, could always tell when one was coming and would stock up on the things that would help Sam get through it. While the boys are separated, Sam gets hit with a doozey of a headache with only Cas to help him. Even though Sam begs him not to tell Dean, Cas realizes that he is out of his element and calls Dean for help. Cue worried!Dean taking care of a very miserable Sam.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Conceal, Don't Feel

Sam could hear something. Thunder, only the pounding was between his ears and the entire room seemed to shake around him, but there was no answering lightening. He knew from experience no one else could hear the thunder, it was pain he had to suffer alone.

"Sam? Sam?" 

That was his name, the thunder was interspersed with it now. The voice was lightening, it came before the thunder, brought it on. Sam put his hands over his ears and the movement shifted his head. Every shift made a white hot pain shoot through his head between his ears.

He groaned, that sound hurt too.

"Sam?" Something outside of his head was pounding now. "Sam?"

Sam groaned and croaked out something that might have been a reply. It had to have been enough because the door to his room opened a crack and if he'd thought his head hurt before, the light made everything a thousand times worse, like pouring alcohol over an open wound, only the open wound was his brain.

The door opened wider and Sam fought to keep the contents of his stomach down. He wasn't nauseous, not really, it was the type of stomach turning that came with intense pain.

"Sam?" His name, it was whispered this time. And it wasn't Dean, his brother's comforting hushed tones that always meant things were going to get better soon. No, this was Cas' deeper voice, not quite quiet enough, and it used to mean a forehead touch and everything was better, he couldn't count on Cas to do that anymore.

"What do you need?" Cas asked him and Sam flinched when a hand settled on his shoulders. "Medicine?"

"'m okay." Sam murmured, even he could barely hear the words. 

Cas' hand rubbed his shoulders gently. "You are in pain. I'll get you medicine." 

And Sam was alone again. Without Cas' breathing and too loud voice, the pain in his head had died down to the level it had been at before Cas had come in, but that was by no means an acceptable level. He needed it to stop, just to be able to jump ahead 48, maybe 72 hours when the pain would be gone and he'd be able to function again.

He must have passed out again because the next thing Sam as aware of was the sound of screaming and someone shaking him. He clamped his hands over his eyes, the overhead light in his room had been turned on. The screaming stopped after that and Sam's throat ached, he'd been the one screaming.

"I brought you pills." Cas announced, as if the little white bottle of off brand Tylenol was going to do anything to help.

"No." Sam whispered. 

"You need them." Cas pressed two pills into Sam's hand, as if the Winchesters ever only took two pills, Dean usually made him take four when he was sick. He lifted Sam up, some of that angelic strength remained, and Sam knocked his head against the wall when Cas touched a cool glass to his lips. "Come on."

"Not gonna help." Sam had his eyes open a slit now, just enough to see Cas' concerned face in front of his. "Wrong pills."

"Where are the right pills?"

Sam didn't know. He didn't say anything and Cas left, flicking the switch to turn off the overhead light when he left the room. The flick of the switch made Sam's head pulse with pain, but the darkness that followed soothed him.

"Sam? I couldn't find any other pills." Cas hadn't turned the light on. But he did something and bright light shone from his hands. "Dean will know where they are."

"Don't. Please don't." Sam managed. He didn't want to see Dean, see his brother's face, he didn't want to think about that part of his life right now. He couldn't handle Dean's problems and his bad decisions. Besides, he couldn't trust his brother to take care of him anymore. Last time he was hurt, Dean let an angel set up shop inside his head.

The bed sunk and Sam shifted as Cas sat down next to him. "Sam."

"Don't call him. He'll do it again! Please no, Cas, don't do it. It was all lies, he just lies to me." Sam shook and buried his face in the pillow, it was damp now, from his words or tears, he couldn't tell.

He heard the dialling of a cell phone and Cas whispered something into it.

"Sam?"

Dean's voice came loudly through the other side of the speaker. It was tinny and the quality was terrible, but Sam recognized the tones. They were too loud.

Sam moaned and clamped his hands over his ears. He shut out the entire conversation between Dean and Cas. At some point, the darkness and the quiet of the pillow was enough and even though he didn't remember going to sleep, he remembered waking up.

The pain hadn't faded. His temples still throbbed in time with his heart and breathing, and the pillow was damp and soggy under his face. Sam reached out to the side table, his hand stopped just before it collided with the wood.

There wouldn't be any pills or water waiting for him. Dean always left them out for him, but Dean wasn't there right now. Sam sighed, at least he thought about sighing, his head couldn't handle the extra noise right now.

"Are you awake?"

"Cas?" Sam mumbled into the pillow. Cas had managed to whisper quietly this time.

"I brought you some tea." There was a quiet clink and the bed sunk down again. "Dean suggested I give you a frozen dishcloth." Something hard and cold was set down on Sam's back. It was soggy around the edges and drops of icy water began to soak into Sam's shirt. 

Sam let Cas help him turn over and slide up to lean against the headstand of the bed. The tea was lukewarm and didn't taste like much of anything. There weren't any pills to wash down with it though, and he only managed a quarter of the mug before Cas helped him inch back down until he was stretched out flat on the bed.

"You'll be all right." Cas told him, but it didn't Dean's mix of soothing and ordering Sam to recover in it. Cas sounded unsure of himself, as if maybe Sam wouldn't be okay. And Sam didn't really want to worry about that right now.

It took him longer to fall asleep this time. He tossed and turned in bed, he was too hot and his head hurt. The room was too bright and Cas had left him alone. Sam didn't miss the angel's loud breathing and he didn't really find the former angel comforting, but he didn't want to be alone.

He didn't really hear the door open. It was more of his developed hunter's sense of survival alerting him to something being in the room with him. For all the good he could have down to protect himself from anything with his head threatening to fall off when he tried to sit up.

"Whoa, whoa. Not so fast."

Sam could barely make out the words, so quietly were they whispered. Warms hands pressed against either side of his face and he was manoeuvred around until he could lean forward and the body connected to the hands was supporting him.

"Dean?"

"Shh." Dean's thumb ran over his lip until he opened his mouth to take the pills. Dean followed them with sips of room temperature water. "Feel up to changing? Your shirt's soak."

Sam didn't say anything, but he lifted his arms and let Dean drag the sopping wet t-shirt over his head. 

"Shh." Dean lowered him down to the bed. "Turn over." He did most of the work rolling Sam onto his front and his large hands soothed a path of warm down Sam's back. 

Sam melted into the mattress as Dean worked his magic. There was something in his brother's hands, something that no pills, no heating pads, not even Jess, had been able to help him like Dean did.

He was still angry. That wasn't going to fade quickly, this wasn't something little, like Dean changing his order at a diner, it wasn't even like their previous big blowups. Like when Dean had ruined yet another one of his laptops with porn, or when Dean had sold his soul to bring Sam back. This was worse.

"Relax." Dean whispered in his ear. "I can literally see you tensing up from here. Go to sleep and yell at Cas tomorrow, when you're feeling better."

"Gonna yell at you too." Sam mumbled and he let Dean's fingers take most of his pain away.


End file.
